Morgan

Mike McCarty · 10-22-2002, 09:50 AM

This pastel is done on a light tan Art Spectrum paper. I am continuing to make some corrections but I feel it is close to completion. The subject's left cheek, at the cheek bone just beneath the eye, has been made fuller than is shown here. Feel free to make any comments.

Mike McCarty · 10-22-2002, 09:54 AM

Here is the image that I think will be framed. I painted a larger image but it just seemed too busy. This is about 19" x 14".

Enzie Shahmiri · 10-22-2002, 06:52 PM

Mike, I can feel the warmth of the sun with this piece, the play of light on her is beautiful. I would check the eyes, either one pupil is too large or the other too small. That's all that I noticed.

Mike McCarty · 10-23-2002, 10:46 AM

Enzie,

It is the eyes that I am working on, they are not right in this post. I have a lot of trouble getting those stubby sticks into those tight little places. I'm sure I can make them better. Thanks for the look.

Mai Ly · 10-23-2002, 03:33 PM

Hi Mike,

I think the light and shadow effect looks very good! I love the cropped version because it draws my attention to her face and eyes better. The uncropped version with the hand is a bit distracting.

There are a few things that I noticed from the painting:

Her eyes: The pupils are not of the same size. The eyeballs do not seem to be of the right shape. They look a bit flat rather than spherical. The eye whites are also a bit too light. You may want to give a bit more highlight to the brow bone above her right eye. Also, the colour just above her eyes seems to be on the warmer side. It looks like red/orange on my monitor. If it is, I think I would make it a bit cooler.

Cheekbones: They are not of the same level. The subject's left cheekbone is higher than the other one.

Colour: I see a sudden disruption in colour from her cheekbones to the area around her eyes (a warm red/orange to a violet). I think you may want to tone down the violet around her eyes and forehead a little, and blend the colours from the cheekbone to the eyes (maybe some midtone cool pink) to give it a smooth transition.

These are my humble suggestions. Hope you find them helpful!

Mai

Mike McCarty · 10-23-2002, 11:44 PM

Mai,

I humbly accept your suggestions and will take them into consideration.

As mentioned in the first post, I made some modifications to the subject's left cheek after taking these photos. As for the eyes...I have had a particularly hard time with these. I have made some improvements but am still not satisfied. One of my goals for this project was to not blend as much as I usually want to do. I usually, in the close quarters of the eyes, will touch my sharp little tortillion to the chalk and then paint it on like touching a brush to paint and then to canvas. I am able to have a better sight of where I am making the touch using the slender paper stump. Here I have tried to go directly to the paper with the stick. This is much harder for me. It does give a nice (at least different) look. It doesn't matter much if they don't end up looking like normal eyes.

It is my practice to get to about 90% and then take photos of the work. I am always amazed at the mistakes I can spot immediately when looking at a photo of the work. It seems an odd thing but it most always happens that way. I then take a bit of a break and ponder what I have done and then go after it again.

Of course this was done from a photo. There were some interesting discussions regarding the cropping of this subject in the "photo resource critique" section titled "interesting light." I decided to paint the full image (even more than the biggest image above) with the idea that I could always cut it down if I wanted. With the cost of custom framing for this type of work the cropped version has a certain appeal.

Chris Saper · 10-24-2002, 12:07 AM

Mike,

Perhaps this belongs in the Techniques section, but have you thought about going after your fine edges in a negative fashion, rather than a positive one?

I find that the only way I can get tiny, fine crisp edges is by "cutting" them away. I'll try to explain (better just to show).

If, for example, the finest line I need is on the lash line, I take the darkest (but right-hued) value pastel and place a line. It's way too thick, but it doesn't matter because I then take the adjacent value/color, and cut into the line I've just placed, so the remaining area is right. I then move outward in concentric areas, cutting away the line or shape placed just before. I have never been successful in trying to place crisp lines with a positive approach.

Please let me know if this is unclear.

Sharon Knettell · 10-24-2002, 08:32 AM

Mike, when I first saw that photograph I thought is was beautiful, but tricky to do. You have actually done a very good job with it. Your skintones are nice and saturated, important to make the dappled effect work.

What bothers me are the eyes, they are too hard. Squint at your reference, note that the eyes are more integrated to the face, the whites are softer and don't pop out as much and the lines around the eyes are not black but much softer.

Also work a little more on the drawing of the nose, especially her left nostril.

All in all, so far one of your best pieces.

Sincerely,

Mari DeRuntz · 10-24-2002, 10:17 AM

I love the loosely-rendered branches/leaves, and the flat, Asian effect it gives to your composition. Also, add my voice to the raves about your lovely flesh tones and the dappled light on her chest.

One thing no one else commented on was the structure of her head; my eye is looking for a little more volume around the back of her head.

Very nice work, and I notice you're exploring different mediums (watercolor, pastel in addition to oils) and your work is getting stronger. What sorts of things are you learning with each medium? (This might be better as a new topic)

Mike McCarty · 10-24-2002, 01:02 PM

Chris,

Your comments are crystal clear to me. I will keep them in mind when I go at it again.

Sharon,

If you can't get the eyes right, hopefully beyond right, then I think a portrait has failed. I will look at the nose as well. Thanks for the nice comments.

Mari,

I will study her head in regards to your comments. Thanks too, for your nice remarks.

As to what I have learned about different mediums? I have learned that I will leave watercolor to the ducks for now. I had not done a pastel in a while and this seemed a good candidate. I don't mind telling you that about halfway through I was wishing that I had done it in oil. This was (is still) a difficult piece for me. But you have to force yourself to stretch. I want to be able to confidently offer charcoal (type) drawings, oil and pastel portraits. If I can successfully complete this project in pastel, what then would scare me? Don't answer that.

To all,

Could your offer your best judgement on the crop question?